LGBT S.F. judges for SWM

There is a limit to identity politics in San Francisco — even on the bench. Witness the race between San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Ulmer and challenger Michael Nava. Nava, a gay, Latino, Democrat law clerk, decided to run against Ulmer, who is a straight, white male and former Republican, to promote “diversity.”

Judge Richard Ulmer is a target

The problem, as C.W. Nevius has written, is, “The issue is the unwritten rule that no one should challenge a sitting judge if he is doing good work.”

Nevius also wrote that if Ulmer “is as good as everyone says he is, he should prevail.”

But we know that’s not always the case.

Thursday I received a letter that has been circulating among the legal community. It is signed by 11 lesbian and gay judges and commissioners of the San Francisco Superior Court who “wholeheartedly support Judge Richard Ulmer for re-election.”

The 11 support Ulmer, who was California Lawyer of the Year in 2006, because he “appreciates the importance of building a judicial institution that serves the public in addition to doing justice in each individual case.” Also, Ulmer brings “unusual depth and breath of experience to our court.”

It is heartening to know that there are forces on the bench that understand: A system that does not recognize quality is doomed to lose it.